VW Passat Brake Grinding Noise, No Warning Light?

bren.ryan

The brake on the front passenger side of my VW 05 Passat (04/05 model) makes a grinding noise when i press it, which suggests the pad maybe worn. However the wear indicator light dosent come on. Altough it dosent make this noise all the time, its starting to happen alot more! If it is the pad, would this be unusual for one pad to wear before the other one does? Does anyone else have this issue?

John_Rambo

I'd trust your feet, ears and senses rather than the indicator light Bren! Can you see how far it's worn down by looking at it? I often found on one of my more 'used' cars that the cables that indicated flat tyres or worn brake discs were broken or crap. (mind you it was an alfa)

bren.ryan

I often do John, past experience tells me its the pad thats worn, however it only happens every now and then. Im thinking its a bit unusual for only the one to do this and no warning. I've had cars (Opel) before, that would warn at the first sign of wear!

Nissan doctor

Many models only have the wear sensor on one side so its possible that the opposite side has worn down.

milltown

Or that a previous owner/mechanic left out the wear sensor rather than replace it at a pad change.

bren.ryan

Makes sense why the warning dosent come on. However dosent make sense or logic to the end user, as in disc damage being caused due to over use on one side, before the other wears down to activate the warning. I suspect this to be a cost saving/gaining measure by the manufacturer?

bren.ryan

milltown wrote: »

Or that a previous owner/mechanic left out the wear sensor rather than replace it at a pad change.

The car is an ex company car from the UK with all dockets from any maintenance that was done, with one Irish owner before I bought it. Could be possible though. Wont know till I get at it and have a decent look at the damage, fingers crossed theres none done!

Nissan doctor

bren.ryan wrote: »

Makes sense why the warning dosent come on. However dosent make sense or logic to the end user, as in disc damage being caused due to over use on one side, before the other wears down to activate the warning. I suspect this to be a cost saving/gaining measure by the manufacturer?

Cost saving/blind assumption by VW that nothing will ever go wrong with their cars.

With regards damage, if you can hear grinding then the disks need changing.

phill106

I had a simmilar thing with my 02 passat, no light (which normally works) but noise when breaking.
Turned out the pad had started slipping down towards the hub.
While this is probably not your problem, the brake sensor light is not the be all and end all, you should bring it to your mechanic (or yourself if you replace pads!)

gollywog

I had the same thing on my a4, was sure it was break pads but after checking they were fine. Turned out I needed a new wheel bearing. Noise stopped after, hope this helps

bren.ryan

I found out what the problem was. I got at it yesterday, its the first time I had to change the pads on this car, there are sensers on both sides alright, however the plug and cable looked like they were there from the previous pads as the cables looked like were cut. So that explains why no light came on. As for the grind noise that comes and goes still dosent make sense because the pads were in a bad way and they should of been grinding alot more as it was almost steel against steel! As for the disc, it will need changing, on the inside of the disc there is a lip from grinding, this has been there for some time caused by prievous pads, I could see a formatation from the lip on what was left of the pads. Theres new pads on now, but will have to change them again when i replace the discs. So much for having dockets to prove what maintenence was done, dosent prove what damage was done and what wasnt replaced!

sean1141

if you replace the disks fairly soon there will be no need to get new pads again.